Before you go searching for a vendor and doing your due diligence for the GM, Dealer Principal and most important of all the Dealership itself. You may want to dig a little deeper into your vendor on Customer Service.
The Vendor may have a large reputation within the automotive industry with powerful products, top of the line Search Engine Optimization etc; you may want to know what is going on with the customer service side of things?
After doing a bit of research myself, about 80% of companies will lack in the most important department within the Vendor itself. That is Customer Service. Having the utmost & top notch Customer Service to ensure you as a client is happy is the key point for long term cusses. This is overlooked on many occasions.
Here is an example and even you may have experienced this. When you call a company to ask questions about your loan you may have through GMAC or any large organization. 70% of the time the person you are talking too is foreign, hard to understand and you never speak with the same person. They type in a few key word searches to pull up your account and they review the notes. That is very irritating on my end and of course your end as a client.
With qualified and a properly trained Customer Service staff, Customer Retention comes in play for the long term effect for the Vendor themselves. This also applies to dealerships to have excellent customer service skills; this will enable a current client to stick with the dealership to purchase their future vehicle from you and your dealership & pass the good word on.
Sticking with your clients through the thick and thin will be a benefit on your end & the vendor you choose for your dealership.
Here are a few key points to help you during your vendor research.
- Ask the vendor for a minimum of 20 references and 10 clients that are not posted on the vendors website
- Call each and everyone to speak directly to the main contact. ( questions to ask )
- How is the customer service?
- Do you speak to the same person?
- Do you have a customer service rep assigned specifically to your account?
- How often does the Vendor follow up with you personally, not including emails, actual phone calls?
- How available is your Customer Service Rep?
The questions above can help you make a wise, smart & educations choice when choosing a vendor for your dealership. Having your questions answered, problems solved and have the best vendor in the automotive will help you achieve your long term goals.
GM’s and Dealer Principals are pleased to have me as their main contact, which they can call me on my personal cell phone directly or have a fast response via email. Taking the time to show that I care on a customer service level, vendor and personal level the client is happy!
Many vendors again are lacking on this as they are looking for the next deal for which causes the current client to fall behind and unnoticed.
That is the reason many clients go searching for the next provider.
Jennifer Schraders Blog 